Steam packing



June 12, 1923.

1,458,489 H. B. LEE

STEAM PACKING Filed March 13. 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 8 @Z I I 6 0 o o o 9 l3 o o June 12, 1923.

1,458,489 H. B. LEE

STEAM PACKING Filed March 13, 1920 2 SheetsSheet 2 g i 'Fig. 4;, a detached viewbf the plug.

Patented June 12, 1923.

EDI S ES Artur-1 'orFieE.

HENRY B. LEE, or Nnwao noN, CONNECTICUT, 'AssIeN'on To THE n. E; wnI o MACHINE coMPA Y, or NEW LoNnoN, ooNNno m T, A oonrona ro fl o .sTEAM rAoKING.

, Application filed March 13, 1920. Serial No. 365,6?1.

Toallw'hom itmag concern: 1

Be it known. that I,"HnNnY'B;Lnn, a citizen of'the United States, residing atN'ew London, in the county of New Londonand State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Steam Packing s and l do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be afull, clear, andexact description of the "same, and which ,said

drawings constitute'part of and represent, 1n

Fig. 1, a'vlew inside elevation a steam this application turbine, the main shaft" of which is provided with my improved steam-packings. j Fig. 2. an enlarged broken 716W, in'vertical section of the right-hand packing as ap-' elevation of'the ej ector-plug of my improved packing.

on the line 55- 5 of Figure v i Y My invention relates to an improved steam-packing designed with particular ref- Fig. 5 a view thereof in'transvers'e section erence to use in steam turbines, "but not so limited, since itisequally applicable to the piston-rods of reciprocating engine sfor to valve-stems; nor is it limited to use as a steam-packing, since it may be used also as a. packing for other elastic fluids, the object of my invention being' to provide a simple and effective packing by which the escape of any steam at the atmospheric end of the packing prevented.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in a packing operating on the principle of an ejector and having certain details of construction as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims For the illustration. o'fzmy invention, 1- have shown it as applied'to a steam turbine for which it is particularly adapted, as already stated. As herein shown, the turbine comprises a casing 65, a shaft 7 bearinghousings 8, packing-bushings 9 interposed between the said casing and bearing-housin s, a governor-housing 10, a steam inletva ve casing 11, a governor-lever 12, an ex-' haust-pipe 13, and the turbine half 14 of the shaft-coupling, all of these parts being of familiar construction and needing no description.

- The two packing-bushings 9' through which the shaft"? passes, are provided with my improvement, and as they are exactly the ard annular packings 15"spaced 'apartto form what for conveniencel shall designate as annular primary and secondaryekpansion-chambers 16 and 17 sur'rouncjlingthe turbine-shaft. .The said I packings 15, as shown, are of the double labyrinth type, but any other 'packings of standard construction mightbe employed in theirplace,

At the junction of the casing 6 with tlie top ofthe'right-hand bushing 9. I'lo'cate an outwardly inclined opening l8,the inner end of" which intersects the primary expainsioir chamber 16andthe outer portion of which isthreaded for the reception. of the threaded stem 19 of an ejector plug having at its outer end a hexagonalhead 20 separated from the said stem 19 by an annular groOveQl-fOrming whenthe plugis installed in the opening18, an annular vacuum-chamber 22 com- "municating throughan inclined port or'pa'ssage 23'with the secondaryexpan'sion 'passage'17.fl v I The saic'l ejector-plug is virtually; converted into a nozzle by its,p'rovisioniwith'a concentric passage 24 the inner'end of which is funnelshaped and the outer-end of which opens into the bottom of a suction-chamber 25 formed 'by' the inner end of a concentric threaded bore 26in the-h'eadQO of the plug, the said bore receiving the threaded lower end of an upstanding, exhaust-pipe '27 connected by aT 28"(Fig. 1) with a'common vent-pipe 29- opening into the atmosphere. 1 The outer endof the funnel-shapedpassagefz aforesaid, is surrounded by four-"inclined. suction-passagesor ports 30 lea ding from the vacuum-chamber -22 into--the suction-chamber 25= aforesaid.

In the operation of my improved steam-' packing, there will be leakage from the interior of the casing 6 into the primary expansion-chamber 16, as indicated by thearrows 31 in Fig. 2. This leakage is measurably predeterminedor gauged in amount-by the clearance between the elements of the packing-rings 15, provided to accommodate thevibration or whip of the shaft. Some of the steam thus escaping into the expansion-chamber 16 will find its Way, as at 32,

into the secondary expansion-chamber .1-7 whichis, so tospea'k, at the atmospheric end of the packing. V V

The steampresent by such unavoidable leakage; in the eiqjansio'n-chamber 16" is forced under its own pressure into the inner end of the ejector-plug and issues from the funnel-shaped passage 24: thereof into the suction-chamber 25 thereof with sufficient energy to cause so much suction in the four ports 30 as to create a. partial vacuum; in'the annular. vacuum-chamber 22 and hence in the passage 23 leading to the secondary exp'ansion-chamber 1-7 with the effect that all of the steam which escaped from the pri-' mary expansion-chamber 16 into the sec- .ondary expansion-chamber 17 through the intermediate packing-ring 15, as indicated by the arrows 32, will be extracted from the chamber 17 and ejected, as indicated by arrows83, through the exhaust-pipe 27 and vent 29. :None of this steam will passv outward through the outermost packing-ringl5 owing to the maintenance of a partial vacuum in the secondaryexpansion-chamber 17 so that the outermost packing-ring functions more to exclude the atmospherethan it does to prevent the leakage of steam.

principle and" characterized by its uti-lization of the escaping steam for keeping, as'it were, the packing pumped dry, whereby, the ultimate leakage of any steam through the paokings and condenses, and floats the oil outof the $311118.

I claim: v 1 A steam-packing havinga cas1ng-, a

shaft,- packing-means therefor,;-primary and secondary expansion chambers interposed between the said packing-means, andan.

ejector-plug connected with the said chambers and operated by the energy of the steam leaking along thesaid shaft through the saidpacking-means into the saidprimary chamber to create a; partial vacuum in the said secondary chamber for the exhaustion It will thus be seen that my improved steam -packing is constructedon theejector therefrom of the steam escaping thereinto from the said primary chamber, whereby the bearings from the shaft are protected from condensing steam.

2.. A steam-packinghavinga casing, an expansion-chamber; comprising a threaded stem having a funnel-shaped passage, a head containing a'suc tion-chamberintersected by the outer end of the said passage, and a groove located between the said stem and head and formed with inclined passages entering the suctionchamber around the intersection thereof by the said funneLsha'ped passage.

3. A steam'packing comprising acasing, a-bush-ing, a shaft passing through the same three packing-rings spaced apart in the said bushing to form a primary expansion-chamber into which steam from the casing is introduced and a secondary expansion-chamher into which steam leaks from the said-prim'ary expansion-chamber through the intermediate packing-ring, and an ejector-plug mountedin the said bushing and connected with both of'the said chambers for the exhaustion, of the latter through energy derived from the steam. entering the former from the said casing. L

4:. In a steam turbine, the combination with a casing provided with two bearings 3 and with two packing-bushings interposed between it and the said bearings, of a shaft and an ejector-plug passing through the. said casing, bushings,

and bearings; packing-rings located within primary and secondary eXpansion-chainbers; ejector-plugs mounted in the said bushingsin which they are-connected with the said expansion-chambers for'the exhaustion the said bushings and spaced apart toform of the secondary expansion-chamber, by en ergy of the steam escaping through the inner packing into the primary,eXpansion-chamber; and means forcarrying ofi" the steam thus. exhausted from the packingbushings, .whereby the bearings of the shaft are protected fromcond ensing steam.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. p v I p HENRY Witnesses 2 a M. J. CHA DnnR,-. EDWARD P. 'EGGLESTON. 

